Mr. Andy Pike:

The problem with the description or designation of the service provided to the students as a statutory scheme is that it implies and signifies impermanence. This is the case for the students because over the years the scheme has resulted in SNA supports being withdrawn from students. The parents have appealed, but the exceptional review process has a success rate that is very low in respect of the overall number of appeals submitted. The impermanence for the SNAs themselves stems from this being insecure and precarious employment. The people in these roles do not know from year to year if they will have a job. We were hoping that a new front-loading approach, which would give at least three years of certainty, would be introduced, with negotiation and agreement, at some stage, and potentially this year. Apparently, this cannot now happen and SNAs are therefore still in a quandary. They are part of a scheme where resources can be provided and then taken away. Where an SNA post is lost, there is no redeployment mechanism. There is a redundancy scheme, but there is no right to keep a post. Almost uniquely among our 350,000 public servants, therefore, we have this group of SNAs in insecure, impermanent and precarious employment.

I turn now to the July provision and the interesting issues the Deputy raised in this regard.

I will hand over presently to my colleague, Ms O'Mahony, to speak further on this. The late allocations should not be happening. We should not be waiting until 31 May for 18,000 SNAs to find out whether they have job. That is a very disrespectful way to treat not just a few people but the entire workforce. We must find a better way of handling it next year. It would be different if there were a redeployment scheme whereby someone who is losing a post in a school would have the certainty that as more posts are added to the system, there will be a job for him or her not too far away. We do not have that, however, and it is one of the reasons the current allocation model is so unsatisfactory.